Plants 50-80 cm tall. Rhizomes creeping, 3-5 mm in diam.; scales brown, lanceolate. Fronds scattered; stipe purplish black, lustrous, 25-40 cm × 2-3 mm, abaxially rounded, adaxially grooved; lamina oblong or broadly ovate, nearly as long as stipe, 15-40 cm wide, 1-pinnate, herbaceous or papery when dry, both surfaces glabrous; rachis and costae purplish black, brown, or straw-colored abaxially, usually lustrous. Pinnae 2-4 pairs, nearly of same shape and size, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, shortly stalked, base rounded or rounded-cuneate, somewhat unequal, margin with short and obtuse teeth, cartilaginous, apex acuminate-caudate to caudate; terminal pinna slightly larger than lateral pinnae. Veins 1- or 2-forked; hydathodes clavate or ovate, not extending to tooth base. Sori extending to bases of hydathodes.

● Forests in valleys, shaded places by roadsides; 600-1500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan.